Culture (Civ5)
*''Note: The Cultural aspect of the game is getting a complete rehaul in Brave New World, including the way to achieve Cultural victory. Stand by for an update to this article!'' Introduction Culture, , represents the advancement of a civilization in ways that aren't scientifically- or technologically - oriented, and have nothing to do with day-to-day survival, or any other practical purpose (for example growing food and making things). In this aspect, Culture is one of the things that best define a civilization and differentiates it from Barbarians (who also progress scientifically, for example). Culture has two main applications in Civilization V: 1. It expands the borders of your empire by acting in each city you found, and 2. It allows you to buy new social policies by accumulating empire-wide Culture points (CP). Perhaps even most importantly, when you acquire enough culture and complete 5 social policy branches, you may win the cultural victory after constructing the Utopia Project in one of your cities. Border growth Your Empire's borders are pushed by each city individually, according to the amount of CP produced by it. There is a certain amount of CP needed for the 'conquest' of each tile, and each subsequent tile costs more (according to a certain formula). Certain Wonders and Social Policies may diminish the amount of CP needed for conquering tiles - either empire-wide, or in this city. - NOTE: If a city produces 0 Culture, it won't grow your borders at all! The process of border growth is automatic, but it conquers more important tiles first. The order of importance depends on: * Luxury resources * Strategic resources * Bonus resources * Tiles bordering one of the above * Tiles bordering rivers, or containing any other unusual feature (Oasis, Lake, etc.) Note that your borders cannot grow when they reach another empire's, or a city-state's borders. Only tiles that don't belong to anyone may be conquered by Culture. There is, however, one way to take over tiles belonging to other nations - a Great Artist, building his Great Tile Improvement, the Culture Bomb will take over all surrounding tiles, regardless of whom they belong to! Be wary, though - this will surely cause diplomatic repercussions. Gaining Culture Culture can be gained in several ways: cultural buildings, specialist Artists working in those buildings, and wonders. Of those, the most important, and the first one available, in fact, is the first - buildings. The following is a comprehensive table of all the buildings that produce culture: All wonders also produce at least 1 culture per turn but a few produce or may produce more: The following may also help you acquire more culture: *Ancient ruins - provide a small, one-time bonus. *Specialists - each Specialist Artist produces +3 *Social policies - see below *Great Artists - may produce the Landmark improvement, which adds +6 to a tile. *City-states - each Cultural city-state gives you CP per turn when befriended. The amount grows each Age. The Piety Social branch is designed to enhance considerably Cultural growth. In this is a bit mixed up with Religion enhancements, but it still provides considerable Cultural bonuses. Also, the Liberty branch has some nice effects, especially if you intend to build a larger empire. Finally, the Tradition branch's opening effect influences positively border growth, besides giving you bonus CP in the Capital. You get these benefits with only unlocking this branch, so you don't need to actually complete it - its main purpose is other. Strategy Cultural growth is one of the important, although not essential, aspects of the game. To be successful in it, you should keep in mind two things: - 1: Culture is mainly produced in buildings built in your cities, and through specialist Artists, working in those buildings. There are ways to produce it in land tiles (for example the Landmark Great improvement, or Natural Wonders), but they are limited. One of these special ways is through certain Religious Beliefs - consider it if you pursue Cultural growth. - 2: Each city you found (or conquer, or acquire in any other way) increases the cost of further Social policies. NOTE: Puppet cities don't count here!!!! So, as you see, you need cities to maximize your Cultural output, but also, you can't have too many of them, lest the price of Policies skyrockets. A good way to easily balance between expanding and producing enough Culture is to conquer cities but PUPPET them, not annex them. This way, you get more culture from these puppet cities, but the puppet cities don't increase the culture cost of policies. Build Cultural buildings as a priority, research technologies giving you access to those as a priority, assign Artist specialists and use the Great Artists to build Landmarks to maximize production without founding new cities. Certain Wonders are vital for your Cultural growth (see above), try to built them at any cost. See also *Mathematics of Civilization V Category:Civilization V